Councillors support fare freeze for transit riders

One of Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe's late campaign promises is receiving a support from Ottawa city councillors. 

Council members have voted in favour of freezing transit fares for riders in 2023, a direction for the 2023 budget. 

The freeze applies to all transit riders including Para Transpo and U-Pass holders as well. 

The fare freeze was approved for the 2023 budget by a vote of 22-3. City staff estimates a one-year fare freeze would cost roughly $5 million. 

Councillors Riley Brockington, Allan Hubley and David Brown voted against the fare freeze, and raised concerns that before injections of funding from other levels of government, OC Transpo was very much in the red. 

Mayor Sutcliffe said there have been discussions about additional funding for transit. 

“We have met with several representatives from the federal government, including the prime minister, and the number one issue we talked about was funding for transit,” said Mayor Sutcliffe. “There is the potential that there could be more funding for transit from the federal government going forward as well.”